CICRA & EC-Council sponsor first ever Hacking Challenge and Information Security Quiz in Sri Lanka

CICRA Institute of Education in association with the International Association of Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council), USA is sponsoring the first ever 'Hacking Challenge' and the 'Information Security Quiz' in Sri Lanka.

Each member of the winning team of the Hacking Challenge and the Information Security Quiz will receive a free training voucher to follow globally recognized, prestigious but expensive Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH) training programme at the state of the art computer laboratory at the CICRA Institute of Education in Colombo 05.

"Normal course fee of a C|EH program per person is Rs. 150,000/-. EC-Council, USA has agreed to provide complimentary courseware whilst they are offering free training to the winners of the Hacking Challenge and the Information Security Quiz," CICRA Director/CEO Boshan Dayaratne said."In the modern world information is the key to success. Therefore, information security is very important in the corporate and also government sectors. That is why they are promoting 'Hacking Challenge and the Information Security Quiz," Mr. Dayaratne said.

"C|EH program trains information security professionals to think and act as hackers but practice only as ethical hackers to defend IT systems of their organisations. This qualification is even recognized by the US Department of Defence," he said.

Hacking or gaining access to computer file or network illegally or without authorisation has become a serious cybercrime all over the world. Organised by Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Sri Lanka CERT), a fully owned subsidiary of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the Hacking Challenge and the Information Security Quiz will be held respectively on 13th and 14th October at the ICTA premises and at Hotel Renuka, Colombo 3 respectively. The two competitions are organized as part of the National Cyber Security Week.

Sri Lanka CERT said that the Hacking Challenge had two objectives."One is to allow penetration testing enthusiasts to measure their skills in a simulated environment, free of legal repercussions; the other objective is to allow these enthusiasts to be rewarded, if they rack up the highest points according to the scoring system - by way of C|EH training," Sri Lanka CERT said.Meanwhile, Security Quiz is targeted at students in tertiary education institutions. "The quiz will be conducted over eight rounds, each round comprising questions from a specialised security area".

Sri Lanka CERT is mandated with the protection of Information and Information Systems within the state sector, particularly in regard to the e-Sri Lanka initiative. At the same time Sri Lanka CERT is also mandated to extend its services to the private sector and general public. It is a full member of the Asia Pacific CERT and Forum of Incident Response Security Teams (FIRST) associations. Sri Lanka CERT also assists the public by combating common cyber security incidents such as Facebook and webmail account compromise.

Press releases and statements

Quincy City Council loosens police residency requirements

QUINCY — Residency requirements for the Quincy Police officers were loosened as a way to help recruit.

The Quincy City Council on Monday approved a memorandum of understanding from the Quincy Policemen Benevolent And Protective Association Unit 12 , the local police union, which allows officers for the city to live in a 40-mile radius from the city center, which includes Missouri.

Previously officers were required to live in Adams County.

The resolution was adopted by a 8-6 vote with Aldermen Dave Bauer, D-2; Tony Sassen, R-4; Mike Rein, R-5; Glen Ebbing, R-5; Ben Uzelac, D-7; and Jack Holtschlag, R-7, voting no.

When called up by Uzelac to provide an explanation, Chief Adam Yates told the council that QPD is currently operating with 68 police officers out of a cap of 73 including the two officers sworn in Monday night.

Yates said of those 68, one is on light duties, another is deployed in the military, two are on leave of absence (with one officer on track to join the state police), and more officers are likely to retire or resign.

Yates said the department is constantly fighting the “training curve,” or the extended period of time it takes to train new officers. Although three new officers are set to enter the force laterally — taking on full duties quickly due to meeting QPD’s experience requirements (five-month training estimate) — the Illinois State Police has attracted experienced officers from QPD by offering better salaries.

“Obviously, we’re 10 to 15 officers down on manpower, but that’s not really anything they can help,” Yates said. “we just have to get the officers through the training program.”

Executive Secretary for the union Jessica Hollensteiner said the decision will aid the QPD retention rates greatly, in addition to drawing in talent from small town Missouri, which pays less than Quincy.

“If you look at most agencies in the Northeast Missouri Area, they’re in the 30s,” Hollensteiner said. “Very appealing from a salary standpoint, they could come over here and double their salaries without having to move from their family homes or uproot their family homes.”

Hollensteiner called the resolution, “mutually beneficial,” pointing out that most union negotiations involve compensation.

“This is a very simple item in their mindset,” she said. “I don’t see any of the unions making this common practice. No one is going to come to the council and ask for a raise.”

Rein questioned whether the proposal would provide an immediate solution to the situation.

Rein raised the issue of officers having minimally staffed shifts, resulting in demoralizing mandatory overtime. Because there are no Missouri candidates currently lined up for transfer, he questioned the validity of the proposal as an immediate solution, calling it a “training issue” completely unrelated to residency.

“Some of (overtime) is mandatory. They understand the difficulty with that,” he said. “But you’re at almost full employment, lacking just one person. Nothing proposed in the MU is going to resolve this issue.”

Ebbing took issue with the loss of leverage in negotiations that granting a union request directly would cause, insisting that the precedent would result in a barrage of requests from other unions representing city employees.

Director of Administrative Services Jeff Mays urged the council to leave the negotiations process to him and those with expertise in union negotiations, pointing to the lack of a precedent for a council decision directly granting a union’s request. He was concerned the move might “weaken the city’s hand” and cause negotiations to slide toward arbitration, something he called unpredictable and potentially dangerous. The city and the police union are in arbitration to resolve a stalemate in contract negotiations.

Uzelac and Rein also said the issue could be resolved in union negotiations next spring.

Farha and Bergman spoke in favor of the proposal, pointing out that the ability to live in Missouri would raise faltering officer morale, and that the larger recruitment pool would allow QPD’s limited training resources select from better candidates.

At the start of the meeting, Officers Justin Laaker and Gabriel VanderMaiden were sworn in. Both will attend a 16-week training program at Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon. Upon completion, their training is expected to continue for eight to ten months in the field before they are considered fully fledged officers.